Hello Sourcers!

And Happy Ken Burns Season to all who celebrate. We’ll get to that in a bit. What’s on tap this week?

🎼 Music!

🦅 Feel the Burns!

🎲 Gaming!

💽 Records!

Summer music festivals are behind us, but that doesn’t mean the music stops. This Friday from 5:30-7pm at the Cafe DeWitt in Ithaca, Busking for Justice presents The Makers, a folk duo featuring Lydia Garrison and Nate Silas. Busking for Justice is a monthly event launched this summer. Admission is free but donations are encouraged, and all proceeds go to legal aid and bail funds for immigrants facing deportation. They’ve raised over $3000 so far! 

Over in Corning on Friday at 7:30pm, Corning Civic Music is bringing Celtic music legends—and spouses!) Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy to the Corning Museum of Glass. This duo has performed with Carlos Santana, Don Henley, Béla Fleck and more, and is returning to Corning after a 10 year absence (something to do with raising seven kids on a farm, apparently).

it is non-stop Ken Burns action across the region this month. Hope you like maps, because friends, we got maps. We’re hosting advance screenings of Ken Burns’s AMERICAN REVOLUTION documentary series at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown on 11/8 (this event is sold out!), at the WSKG Studios in Vestal on 11/11, with a Q&A by Binghamton University Professor Robert Parkinson, and at the Jericho Arts Council in Bainbridge on 11/13, leading up to the series’ broadcast debut on WSKG on Sunday November 16th at 8pm!

If none of these screenings are in your neighborhood, don’t worry. We’ll be hosting more next year as part of America@250, bringing you the Burns.

And last, before I hand it off to our other Locally Sourced contributors, this weekend in Ithaca is the Finger Lakes Area Gaming Convention, or FLAGCon! This is a big ol’ gathering of folks playing all sorts of games, from board games to role-playing games. I’ll be there at some point teaching folks to play Ticket to Ride, or possibly King of Tokyo. Something simple. I leave the big, complicated games to the experts.

I’m thinking next time, with Thanksgiving around the corner, we need to start thinking about food. So what’s your secret spot to acquire vittles? Regional markets? Artisanal butchers (RIP, The Piggery)? What are you bringing to the feast?

Yours,

Bob Proehl

Locally Sourced editor

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This week I stopped at Music City in Binghamton to get something familiar and something very unfamiliar to me.

Trust - Elvis Costello

I’ve been lucky enough to see Elvis Costello in concert twice this year, including once at the State Theatre in Ithaca. Costello’s most recent tour is called “Radio Soul! The Early Songs of Elvis Costello.” Included were a couple of songs from the 1981 album, Trust. So when I saw a well-loved copy of this disc, I decided to get it for my friend who came to the concert with me. Turns out that Trust wasn’t very popular when it was first released and there was no identified single on the disc. When I first heard this album back in 1981, I was immediately drawn to the Side 1 songs. The percussive beat at the start of “Lovers Walk” is an immediate ear-grabber and the pop refrain of “Clubland” stays with you. Elvis’ whisper-like singing in “Watch Your Step” gives me chills. Am I biased? Absolutely! I love Elvis Costello - this guy has been putting out records since the late 70’s. His musical style includes New Wave, Country, Classical and Jazz. He even took the music master recordings of his 1978 album This Year’s Model and produced a Spanish-language version with various performers in the 2021’s Spanish Model. (A very fun, energetic listen.) I’ll always give one of his recordings a listen, and in the case of Trust, I’ve liked it for 44 years. It will always have a place in my record collection, and I’m happy to pick up a used copy of this disc to share with friends who may not be that familiar with it.

Together - Jimi Hendrix, Little Richard

I have to say, I was intrigued when I saw this album, so I had to pick it up. This is a 1973 re-issue of an album originally titled, Friends from the Beginning: Jimi Hendrix and Little Richard.

I was so stoked about this disc that I brought it to a staff meeting. I mean, why would Jimi Hendrix and Little Richard put out an album together? My colleague Bob filled me in on some info that I never knew - Hendrix played with Little Richard in the 60’s. Really. From 1964 to 65, Jimi was part of Little Richard’s touring band. As I dug deeper, I discovered that Hendrix recorded a few singles with Little Richard, but none of these are included on this album. So, big disappointment - turns out that this record is not true to its cover and is considered a fraud… no Hendrix on any songs, and in some cases, Little Richard isn’t even on the tracks. Lesson learned – don’t judge an album by its cover.

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Hello, and welcome to the first installment of Waypoint! When I'm not at WSKG hosting All Things Considered, you can find me indulging in gaming culture, be it of the video variety, the board basics, or the card classics. This segment of Locally Sourced will focus mainly on the latter two, as there are a surprising number of physical locations across our region that serve as fun points of interest to check out. So if you're a fan of trading card, deck building, and European-style board games, Waypoint is for you!

We'll start our journey first with a detour, or rather, a sidequest. In the small and quaint town of Owego, NY, there lies an equally small and quaint game store: Sidequest Games. One of the several local, family-owned small businesses in Owego, Sidequest is a must-see for any board game enthusiasts.

While they used to offer up a selection of trading card games like Lorcana and my personal favorite, Magic: The Gathering, they recently changed their focus to primarily board games, and boy, is there a fantastic selection to choose from. There's everything from your classics like Catan and Ticket to Ride to newer titles like Root and Sagrada, plus everything in between. Best of all, they regularly have a game out to demo, and they're more than happy to teach visitors how to play new games by actually sitting down and playing the game with you!

Sidequest also offers up materials for tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, which brings me to perhaps the coolest part of this shop: its dungeon! Yes, just beneath the store itself lies a gaming dungeon available to rent out for those looking to step up their gaming experience. It features a large gaming table plus medieval decorations—perfect for immersing yourself in the story of your latest campaign.

Overall, it's an awesome shop set in the heart of an awesome town, filled with awesome people who love what they do. If you're looking for your next adventure, take up a sidequest and stop into Sidequest Games in Owego!

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